# 1960 in Wales

This article is about the particular significance of the year 1960 to Wales and its people.

## Incumbents

* Archbishop of Wales – Edwin Morris, Bishop of Monmouth
* Archdruid of the National Eisteddfod of Wales
** William Morris (outgoing)
** Trefin (incoming)

## Events

* 1 January – Portmeirion Pottery is established when Susan Williams-Ellis and her husband Euan Cooper-Willis (managers of the gift shop at her father's village of Portmeirion) take over Gray's Pottery in Stoke-on-Trent (England).
* 5 January – Closure of the Swansea and Mumbles Railway (opened to passengers in 1807 and by this date operated by double-deck electric trams). The service is replaced by buses operated by its owner South Wales Transport.
* 28 June – Forty-five miners are killed in an accident at Six Bells Colliery, Monmouthshire.
* 6 August – At Llandaff Cathedral a service of thanksgiving attended by Queen Elizabeth II is held to mark the end of eleven years' restoration work following air raid damage in 1941.
* 5 September – Poet and peace campaigner Waldo Williams is sentenced at Haverfordwest to imprisonment for six weeks for non-payment of income tax (a protest against defence spending).
* 3 November – Esso opens the first oil refinery at Milford Haven.

## Arts and literature

* 29 September – Ricky Valance is the first male Welsh singer to hit number one in the charts, with his cover version of Tell Laura I Love Her.

### Awards

* National Eisteddfod of Wales (held in Cardiff)
* National Eisteddfod of Wales: Chair – withheld
* National Eisteddfod of Wales: Crown – W. J. Gruffydd, "Unigedd"
* National Eisteddfod of Wales: Prose Medal – Rhiannon Davies Jones, Fe Hen Lyfr Cownt

### New books

* Glyn M. Ashton – Tipyn o Annwyd
* Thomas Glynne Davies – Haf Creulon
* Menna Gallie – Man's Desiring
* Dic Jones – Agor Grwn
* Kate Roberts – Y Lôn Wen
* Bernice Rubens – Set on Edge
* Raymond Williams – Border Country

### New drama

* Saunders Lewis – Esther

### Music

* Alun Hoddinott – Concerto no. 2
* Arwel Hughes – Serch yw’r Doctor (opera)

#### Albums

* Osian Ellis – Handel (with the Philomusica of London conducted by Granville Jones
* Treorchy Male Choir – Nidaros
* Die Zauberflöte (featuring Geraint Evans)

## Film

* Glynis Johns stars in The Sundowners.
* Rachel Roberts stars in Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, becoming the first Welsh actress to win a BAFTA for Best British Actress.
* Keith Baxter appears alongside Orson Welles in Chimes at Midnight.

## Broadcasting

September – The Wales Television Association is formed. On 6 June, the franchise is awarded to the Wales Television Association.

### Welsh-language television

* Colegau Cerdd
* Her Yr Ifanc

### English-language television

* 1 January – Broadcast of the first weekly episode of an eight-part serialization by BBC Wales of How Green Was My Valley.
* Johnny Morris narrates the imported children's TV series Tales of the Riverbank.

## Sport

* Boxing – Dick Richardson wins the European Heavyweight title. Brian Curvis wins the British and Commonwealth welterweight titles.
* Summer Olympics – David Broome wins a bronze medal on Sunsalve in the individual show jumping event.
* Tennis – Mike Davies wins the British hard court title. He also becomes the first Welsh man to reach a Wimbledon final where he partners Bobby Wilson in the Men's Doubles.
* BBC Wales Sports Personality of the Year – Brian Curvis

## Births

* January – Anne Boden, banking executive
* 16 January – Alun Huw Davies, vascular surgeon
* 30 January – Peter Black AM, politician (in Wirral)
* 6 February – Jeremy Bowen, journalist and television presenter
* 14 February – Dawn Bowden, politician
* 15 February – Russell Coughlin, footballer (d. 2016)
* 18 February – Rhys Parry Jones, actor
* 26 February – Roger Lewis, academic, biographer and journalist
* 30 April – Martin Phillips, darts player
* 3 May – Geraint Davies, politician
* 4 May – Elfyn Edwards, golfer
* 8 May – Peter Lawlor, cricketer
* 9 May – Jillian Lane, spiritual medium (d. 2013)
* 13 June – Sir Clive Buckland Lewis, judge
* 19 June – Andrew Dilnot, economist, statistician and academic
* 23 June – Ricky Evans, rugby union player
* 29 June – Helen Mary Jones, politician (in Colchester)
* 13 July – Ian Hislop, satirist
* 24 July – Gwilym Emyr Owen III, US-born singer-songwriter of Welsh descent
* 1 August – Lesley Griffiths, politician
* 18 September
** Carolyn Harris, politician
** Ian Lucas, politician
* 29 October – Sue Jones, Dean of Liverpool
* 12 December – Kelvin Smart, flyweight boxer
* 24 December – Carol Vorderman, television personality (in Bedford)
* date unknown
** Nigel Davies, chess player
** Lisa Francis, politician
** Gareth Jones, orchestral and choral conductor
** Malcolm Pryce, novelist (in Shrewsbury)
** William Owen Roberts, novelist and dramatist

## Deaths

* 2 January – Leila Megàne, opera singer, c. 69
* 13 January – Reginald Herbert, 15th Earl of Pembroke, 79
* 17 January – E. Llwyd Williams, minister and poet, 53
* 19 January – Charles Jones, Wales rugby international, 66
* 27 January – Joseph "Joe" Jones, dual-code rugby international, 60
* 25 February – Sir Edward Enoch Jenkins, judge, 65
* 30 March – Edward Evans, politician and disability campaigner, 77
* 11 April – William Llewellyn Morgan, Wales international rugby union player, 76
* 7 May – Mai Jones, songwriter, 61
* 23 May – John Edwards, politician, 77
* 4 June – Margaret Lindsay Williams, artist, 71
* 19 June – Thomas Alwyn Lloyd, architect, 78
* 27 June – Harry Pollitt, politician, 69
* 30 June – John Morgan Lloyd, musician and composer, 79
* 6 July – Aneurin Bevan, politician, 62
* 9 July – John Dyke, Wales international rugby union player, 76
* 24 August – Dai Edwards, Wales dual-code rugby international, 64
* 25 August – Tommy Jones-Davies, Wales international rugby player, 54
* 30 August – "Taffy" Jones, First World War flying ace, 64
* 31 August – Edith Picton-Turbervill, social reformer, writer and politician, 88
* 3 September – Frank Hawkins, rugby international, 75
* 27 September – George Morgan Trefgarne, 1st Baron Trefgarne, politician, 66
* 29 October – Horace Williams, footballer, c. 60
* 19 December
** Billy Bowen, dual-code rugby player, 63
** Helen Parry Eden, Welsh-descended poet, 75
* 20 December – Harry Uzzell, Wales international rugby union captain, 77
* 22 December – Evan Davies, politician, 85